Creators say three-month delay is due to unexpected demand, mass production issues.

When Oculus Technology launched the Kickstarter for its 3D head-mounted display, the Oculus Rift, those who pledged $300 or more were told they could expect to try out a development kit in December 2012. Today, the company announced via Kickstarter that the nearly 7,500 backers who helped the company raise nearly $2.5 million will actually have to wait until March to get their hands on the hardware.

In the update, the Oculus team says the delay is due primarily to preparations for the mass Chinese manufacturing of the Rift's injection-molded plastic shell. That alone can take up to 90 days. Oculus was forced to move to a mass production process when it ended up selling thousands of development kits through Kickstarter this summer instead of the "few hundred" it had been expecting.

Rift dev kit production was also slowed when the 5.6-inch LCD screens Oculus initially wanted to use were discontinued after the company tried to order them in bulk, leading to a scramble to find a suitable replacement. The development kits will now sport 7-inch, 1200x800 resolution screens which weigh about 30 grams more than the prototypes that impressed us so much back at PAX, but also sport significantly less motion blur. Oculus says it's using the extra production time to equip the kits with a new motion sensor that updates position data up to 1,000 times per second, a speed "several times faster" than previous prototypes.

Plans for the consumer version of the Rift hardware are "still in the works" according to the company. The final commercial build will include "several exciting features" not available in the initial development kits (which are not meant for the general public). Meanwhile, the company is showing off new video of the Rift integrated with Unreal Engine 3. Hey, we've already waited at least 18 years for a head-mounted display that's actually worth the money... what's a few more months in the grand scheme of things?

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

Aren't these the ones Carmack was evangelizing last year? With working prototypes around, vaporware isn't the word. But whether or not they catch on is a very different question, especially since the game support may end up being vaporware, which would be a shame.

This is completely unsurprising. People who don't do it for a living always underestimate the time needed and hassle required to get components into a custom plastic shell and out the door. It happens on every single project like this because technical people only see the issues with the electronic parts and getting everything working together, and have no frame of reference for how difficult the rest of manufacturing a device is.

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Aren't these the ones Carmack was evangelizing last year? With working prototypes around, vaporware isn't the word. But whether or not they catch on is a very different question, especially since the game support may end up being vaporware, which would be a shame.

It's not vaporware or anything close. It already works with IdTech and Unreal, and support is coming for Unity and CryEngine.

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I'm waiting for the story about a Kickstarter project that goes as planned and meets its promises. I'm sure there'll be one someday.

When you back a project that's not finished you know going in that timelines are subject to change. If you want a known product then wait till release. I have also back plenty of projects that came in right on schedule.

Sounds about right, they set your timeline based on the assumption of making less than 500 units, and ended up with 7400 orders. I'm really surprised it's just a 3 month delay with having to change their planned processes to meet the demand.

This is something I am very interested in but my eyesight is very poor if uncorrected. With glasses my vision is 90%, good enough to play games, read a book, watch TV, etc.

I very much hope they take those of us who must wear glasses into consideration when making the device. I love the idea and would love to buy one of these when they release but obviously I can only use it if they have some way for me to use it with corrected vision.

This is something I am very interested in but my eyesight is very poor if uncorrected. With glasses my vision is 90%, good enough to play games, read a book, watch TV, etc.

I very much hope they take those of us who must wear glasses into consideration when making the device. I love the idea and would love to buy one of these when they release but obviously I can only use it if they have some way for me to use it with corrected vision.

They are keeping glasses in mind, they even said a majority of the people on the project wear glasses, so it even fits in with their self interest.

I have perfectly bad eyesight that puts me in the small gap between regular and astigmatism contacts so I can't really get away with them until my eyesight gets better or worse

I'm waiting for the story about a Kickstarter project that goes as planned and meets its promises. I'm sure there'll be one someday.

I've got my Zombicide box and my Disaster Looms boxes. This three month delay for well stated reasons isn't something I'm going to call doom on just yet. Could they have vetted their suppliers better? Maybe, it's not easy when you're trying to get them lined up with little to no budget, and then hit them with an initial request that's an order of magnitude larger than you originally expected. Doing business in China always adds some risks, but right now I'm not worried. If March comes along and they're delayed again, then I'll start sweating.

Look at what happened to Pebble. Watches were due in September based on their initial estimates, then they struck mass hysteria. Had to close the Kickstarter early, are talking about final Production Testing probably happening at the end of December, and even when things ramp up the factory will make 15,000 watches a week.

This could be a lesson for future Kickstarters. If demand for your product wildly exceeds your expectations, then you should be sending out mail right away telling people that production is going to take longer than you initially estimated. There is a big difference between a little boutique job with 200 orders, and a full on mass production line with 50,000 orders. If you were planning for the former then your estimates are going to be completely off for the latter.

The worst part is that it will probably take a month or two before you even have good estimates on how long it will take with the bigger order. You need to shop around and find people who can handle your job at the size you want that aren't just lying to you. That email at the end of the Kickstarter that goes "Thanks for your support. Due to the incredible demand the process of making the items is going to take longer. How much longer? We don't know, but it will probably be on the order of 4-8 months!"

Of course you should have probably gotten started on that when your initial estimates were blow away on the first day of the Kickstarter, but it's hard to project just how many you're going to have in the end. A lot of Kickstarters have a final week and especially final day bump that can add considerably to the final numbers.

To be fair, Kickstarter is fairly new so many of the projects that are past their deadlines are the ones that set too-short deadlines to begin with. I still have not received anything from my very first Kickstarter (the new Ogre box), but it's not overdue yet because the developers gave themselves a lot of time.

My experience is that the older the people behind the Kickstarter are, the more realistic the deadlines will be. Experience is the best teacher I guess.

To be fair, Kickstarter is fairly new so many of the projects that are past their deadlines are the ones that set too-short deadlines to begin with.

It's not like this is a Kickstarter specific problem though, it's a project management problem that happens nearly any time a group of people is doing something they haven't done before, and half the time when they have done it before. People just always underestimate timelines.

I'm waiting for the story about a Kickstarter project that goes as planned and meets its promises. I'm sure there'll be one someday.

Today I just happen to be wearing a pair of pants from Bluff Works that was started through Kickstarter. Entire project went pretty smoothly, and I got a nice pair of pants to boot.

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Pledge $70 or more 524 backersONE pair of Bluffs ($85 retail value) in any color. Includes shipping and an exchange to get the size right, as needed. Please add $10 for international shipping.Estimated delivery: Sep 2012

Cut to...

I guess with Kickstarter, getting your things a month or two behind schedule counts as "pretty smoothly"?

To be fair, Kickstarter is fairly new so many of the projects that are past their deadlines are the ones that set too-short deadlines to begin with.

It's not like this is a Kickstarter specific problem though, it's a project management problem that happens nearly any time a group of people is doing something they haven't done before, and half the time when they have done it before. People just always underestimate timelines.

Pournelle's Law of Costs and Schedules: Everything takes longer and costs more (even when you try to make allowance for Pournelle's Law).

Aren't these the ones Carmack was evangelizing last year? With working prototypes around, vaporware isn't the word. But whether or not they catch on is a very different question, especially since the game support may end up being vaporware, which would be a shame.

It's not vaporware or anything close. It already works with IdTech and Unreal, and support is coming for Unity and CryEngine.

Engine support is very important (and awesome that they already have it), but it's only step 1. Even if the engine supports it, supporting it as a proper input/view method is still going to rely on the game developer enabling that option in the engine (or not disabling it). Which basically requires that they at least buy a dev kit and test on it. That's where the game support will be made or broken.

I definitely want to see this used... I'd find it very useful in all sorts of games.

I guess with Kickstarter, getting your things a month or two behind schedule counts as "pretty smoothly"?

Sure, that was actually a pretty damned good shipping estimate, considering the estimate was made with him assuming he'd get just $13,500 in backing. He ended up getting almost $130,000 in backing which forced him to revise his estimate (much like what happened to Oculus in this article). So, yeah, stuff slipped a month or two because he was having to manufacture 10x what he originally planned. I can hardly fault him for that.

Bang on schedule and exactly as planned. An added bonus for people outside the US is that because you're not buying a product it's perfectly legitimate for the kickstarter product to be shipped as a gift meaning no import taxes.

I dearly want a) MechWarrior Online to not suck, b) this to not suck, and c) MWO to add support for this. Or Star Citizen, if it ever actually becomes more than a render.

(Additionally, I rather want to know if eye and neck strain is low enough to use these for virtual displays; it'd be neat to be able to ad hoc add displays, esp. at work.)

Combining this with a WindowSlider style virtual desktop (simulated infinite desktop space) could be very cool alternative to multiple monitor setups. Assuming the neck and eye strain isn't an issue when it comes out

For those talking about Kickstarter timelines, Kotaku made a nice overview for the 100K+ games. It mostly treats updates as well as just deadlines, but it shows there are actually a couple of projects that delivered on time.

I'm waiting for the story about a Kickstarter project that goes as planned and meets its promises. I'm sure there'll be one someday.

Today I just happen to be wearing a pair of pants from Bluff Works that was started through Kickstarter. Entire project went pretty smoothly, and I got a nice pair of pants to boot.

Quote:

Pledge $70 or more 524 backersONE pair of Bluffs ($85 retail value) in any color. Includes shipping and an exchange to get the size right, as needed. Please add $10 for international shipping.Estimated delivery: Sep 2012

Cut to...

I guess with Kickstarter, getting your things a month or two behind schedule counts as "pretty smoothly"?

What I'm more concerned about is that that many people paid $70 for polyester pants.

Seriously, though, quite a lot of Kickstarters deliver on time. Look at the ones that are closer to their actual goals for examples of this. A big part of the problem for individuals and companies kickstarting something is that they have their plan mapped out for the amount they request and when they get 10x the money (and requested items) they have difficulties scaling the whole thing up. Particularly after they consider whether this surge is enthusiasts getting in early or an indication of sustained desire for their goods.

Video games, in my mind, are the hardest thing to put a finger on with regards to Kickstarter. There are so many things that can trip the whole process up that you have to be capable of admitting you're basically gambling on delivery when you support one. Some are going to sail in on-time and that's awesome. Most are going to slide a few months for bug fixes, which isn't exactly unusual by industry standards. Some are going to end up vaporware, which sucks for everyone who supported it, but again, it's not unusual.

Kickstarter is angel investing, you have to deal with the possibility of the money flying away.

I'm waiting for the story about a Kickstarter project that goes as planned and meets its promises. I'm sure there'll be one someday.

I bet you're one of those people who don't go on planes, because whenever news of a plane crash does headlines around the world you assume that the majority of them do crash, because hey, we never hear about those planes that don't crash, so obviously they all do.